1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to systems and methods for processing electronic transactions. In particular, the present invention concerns a system and method for processing and settling electronic financial transactions which are accounted to an account of an account holder making the transaction, wherein the account is associated with a voice and/or data communications service, electronic content aggregation service, and/or media service.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Systems and method for making electronic financial transactions via a wireless communications link are known. In one such prior art system and method, an electronic financial transaction may be initiated with an electronic communications device, such as a telephone, a wireless telephone, or a personal digital assistant. Depending on the particular implementation, the device may store data indicative of the unit in an internal memory for transmission to a point-of-sale terminal, where that information is used to make a transaction; or the device may transmit an instruction to a remote server for retrieval of the data indicative of the unit for making an electronic transaction; or the device may store data indicative of a debit or credit account number in an internal memory; or the device may send an instruction to a remote server for retrieval of the debit or credit card information.
In another prior art system and method, an account associated with a service corresponding to the device, such as a voice and/or data communications service, may also serve as a debit or credit account such that the transaction may be accounted for (or billed directly to) the account associated with the service corresponding to the device.
It will be appreciated that there are a wide variety of communications companies, digital content aggregation companies, media companies, and providers of Internet search, advertising and/or auction features and/or Internet access that may wish to make use of such technology in a variety of wireless and non-wireless environments. Accordingly, a need exists for provision of such systems and methods in an environment in which a wide variety of separate organizations offer such systems and methods to their customers. In particular, a need exists for a system and method for electronically processing and settling financial transactions made by customers of a wide variety of different service providers.